If it wasn’t bad enough that so called “meritorious persons” are receiving much more lavish government benefits than veterans, now certain veterans may not even be able to get buried in a national cemetery:
National Cemetery, ROK
A controversy surfaced when the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans pursued an initiative to cancel burial benefits for military veterans with less than 20 years service but more than 10 years service and instead make room for the burial of those who participated in candlelight protests and those designated as “Democracy Movement Meritorious Persons.” This means certain military veterans will no longer be eligible to be buried at the national cemeteries. The Korean War Veterans Association and other veterans groups strongly opposed the move.
If anyone is wondering what happened to the former Blue House Chief of Staff and North Korean bagman, Im Jong-seok after he resigned, don’t worry because he was given a golden parachute of a position in the UAE:
Im Jong-seok
Nearly two weeks after President Moon Jae-in let his former chief of staff go in a show of reform, the Blue House announced Monday that Im Jong-seok will return as Moon’s special advisor for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Han Byung-do, former senior secretary for political affairs, was named Moon’s special advisor for Iraq.
Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said during a press briefing Monday that Im had strengthened mutual trust between Korea and the UAE while serving as presidential chief of staff, and that based on this, the Blue House expects him to contribute immensely to boosting Korea’s national interests in his new post as advisor for the UAE.
So now it looks like the Korean War Peace Treaty is off the table for the Trump-Kim II Summit:
Kyodo News reports Washington has floated to Pyongyang the idea of adopting a nonaggression or peace declaration act as they prepare for summit talks in Vietnam later this month.
The Japanese news agency on Friday quoted a number of U.S. and Japanese government sources familiar with the matter.
The sources said Washington made the proposal in order to entice North Korea into making concessions related to denuclearization by guaranteeing the security of the North Korean regime.
However, the report said it is uncertain whether an agreement will be reached before the second U.S.-North Korea summit, given Pyongyang’s continued reluctance to declare its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
The report said the U.S. initially sought to declare an official end to the Korean War but decided against the idea after assessing that it would be difficult to get support on the matter from relevant countries, including South Korea and China, in a short period of time.
Who knows how accurate this comment is, but it is of course making the rounds as a headline:
Inevitably, the book includes disturbing new detail about Trump’s subservience to Russian President Vladimir Putin. During an Oval Office briefing in July 2017, Trump refused to believe U.S. intelligence reports that North Korea had test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile — a test that Kim Jong Un had called a Fourth of July “gift” to “the arrogant Americans.” Trump dismissed the missile launch as a “hoax,” McCabe writes. “He thought that North Korea did not have the capability to launch such missiles. He said he knew this because Vladimir Putin had told him so.”
Two years ago today(2/13), Kim Jong-un assassinated his half-brother using VX chemical nerve agent in an airport. People easily forget… pic.twitter.com/x1rmCu0HXV
S. Korean violinist Kim BomsoriSouth Korean violinist Kim Bomsori performs during an event in Seoul on Feb. 12, 2019, to promote her debut album with Deutsche Grammophon and concerts with Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz in Gwangju, Ulsan, Daegu and Seoul. (Yonhap)
For something that is technically illegal in South Korea, it is widely practiced:
Members of women’s groups hold a performance at a square in Seoul in this September photo, to call for the abolishment of a law that punishes women who have abortions. Korea Times file
Around 20 percent of Korean women who get pregnant have abortions, according to a government survey, Thursday.
The Korea Institute of Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) announced the result of the survey, which it conducted on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Welfare on 10,000 women aged between 15 and 44 online from September to October.
It was the third government survey on abortion, an illegal practice here ― except in certain life-threatening circumstances and in the cases of rape and incest ― but widely conducted secretly. Previous surveys were conducted in 2005 and 2010.
You can read more at the link, but to put this into perspective, this 20% number is very similar to the United States where it is estimated that 25% of women will have had an abortion by age 45.
I never thought I would type these words, but go Speaker Pelosi:
A South Korean delegation of lawmakers, right, talk with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, on the denuclearization of North Korea at the Capitol in Washington Tuesday. [YONHAP]
A South Korean delegation of lawmakers visiting Washington this week for talks with U.S. officials ahead of the second U.S.-North summit clashed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over Pyongyang’s true intentions after she accused the North of pursuing South Korea’s “demilitarization.”
North Korea would love demilitarization of South Korea, but the Kim regime knows they won’t get that. What they are hoping for is military superiority in order to extort the North Korea. This is what the pursuit of a peace treaty is about, ending the US-ROK alliance while keeping their nuclear weapons that gives them military superiority over the South.
Here is what the ROK delegation said in response:
When Rep. Chung Dong-young of the minor leftist Party for Democracy and Peace replied that forging ties with the North like the United States did with Vietnam would help the United States “expand its national interest,” Pelosi shot back that she doesn’t trust the North.
The Kim regime has done nothing to earn trust. By the way Chung Dong-young used to be the Unification Minister during the Roh Moo-hyun administration in South Korea who has a long history of anti-Americanism and Kim regime appeasing.
At one point, Pelosi reportedly said last year’s first summit between North Korea and the United States was nothing but a show, and that U.S. President Donald Trump failed to return home with any accomplishments. Pelosi continued, saying she wanted to see real proof that Pyongyang was denuclearizing. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, she added, is trying to demilitarize the South, not give up his nuclear weapons.
The Kim regime is willing to do “pretend denuclearization”, but I have not seen any evidence they intend to really denuclearize. I think the Trump administration is beginning to realize this as well and is why they are focusing on ending the ICBM program which they may have more success doing.
The Japanese even came up during this meeting:
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang, who led the South Korean delegation, said Pelosi also brought up his recent spat with the Japanese government and told him she was worried about strained ties between Seoul and Tokyo, adding she hopes they settle the issues soon. Moon said he felt Pelosi made the comment due to Japan’s request.
I wish Pelosi would have hit back at him with my line by asking him to call for Kim Jong-un to hold hands and apologize to the victims of the Korean War, something his grandfather caused that was far more destructive than anything the Japanese ever did to South Korea. Or call for him to hold hands and apologize to the families of South Koreans abducted over the years by North Korea. Better yet will he call for Kim Jong-un to hold hands with the families of the victims of the Cheonan sinking and Yeonpyeong Island shelling. I would have loved to have seen his reaction.
This how Moon Hee-sang the ROK Parliament Speaker ended the meeting:
Unfazed, Moon told reporters during the press briefing that “the era of Pax Koreana” has arrived, and that the K-pop sensation BTS and Andy Kim, a Democratic New Jersey House representative of Korean descent, are “conquering the world from New York.”
Andy Kim and BTS are conquering the world? I really hope this is a mistranslation because this is almost as delusional as believing that Kim Jong-un really wants to denuclearize.
